What Am I Working On...

The Leader in "Leadership Education" is "You, Not Them".  The only person that we can truly change and improve is ourselves.

So, one of the things that I try to do is set goals for myself.  I feel that as I pursue my own goals,  that this gives my kids an example to follow.  I have always felt that everyone has their own personal mission in life.  I know being a mother is the most important thing that I can do,  but I just felt that there has to be something beyond motherhood for a woman to feel a sense of fulfillment and accomplishment and purpose.  I feel that I desired to not only be a great mother to my own children,  but to be making a difference in the world and in my community.  I don't believe anyone is happy being stagnant because "The Glory of God is intelligence".  He wants us to grow and to discover our own personal purpose.  That is the whole idea behind "Leadership Education",  that each person has a mission and their education is helping them accomplish that mission.  So, the Leader in "Leadership Education" is "You, Not Them".

This past year I feel that I have discovered a big part of my personal mission.  I feel that my purpose is in strengthening home and family, not just my own but helping others have strong families.  Also,  I find purpose in preaching the gospel and in comforting the lonely.

So,  I have put myself in the scholar phase.  The scholar phase is the time for us to independently explore our missions and passions.  Now,  it is a lot harder for me as a Mom to be in the scholar phase,  but I feel that as long as I have a goal and try my best, that slowly, but surely I can accomplish my goals.  So,  here is what I am working on.

I have created a system in our family called the "SIPS" system.  This is derived from something that my Dad taught us when we were young.  Every year we would set goals as a family.  My parents love to set goals.  My Dad would always tell us that Christ grew in Wisdom, Stature, in Favor with Man and in Favor with God.  So, we would set goals in these 4 categories every new year.  I have kept this tradition,  and have wanted to use it with my own family.  So,  I created a SIPS badge program,  where during our school days the kids choose badges from these 4 categories that they can work on.  I do the same for myself so that I can set the example.  S= Spiritual, I= Intellectual, P=physical, S=Skills

Spiritual Goals:

I am working on reading through the New Testament.  I am also trying to study "My Gospel Standards", and have 1 scripture per week for my family to memorize.

Intellectual Goals: 

I call these brain badges.  I am working on my 7 Keys Certification.  This is a certification developed by Thomas Jefferson Education to help us become better mentors and proficient in the classics.  I began this a year ago.  It has taken me a long time to get through the books,  but I feel that getting this certification is a big part of my purpose.  So far I have read "The Student Whisperer",  "A Thomas Jefferson Education",  "The Phases of Learning", "Laddie", and "Little Britches".  I need to read "The Chosen", "The Fourth Turning", "A Beginners Guide to Constructing The Universe", and "Les Miserables".  So,  wish me luck.

I am also doing "Mentoring in The Classics",  It is an audio every month that I can listen to and study a different classic.  I can save these audios for later,  but they are very interesting and valuable to me.

For math, I signed up with www.mathinspirations,com,  to become a better math mentor for my kids.  So far,  I have done lesson 1 and loved it,  there are 10 lessons in total and I am so excited to pursue this math goal,  for my kids and for myself.  I actually love math but never really understood it,  but this is my chance to truly understand it and share my understanding with my kids,  so I am so excited about it.

For Writing,  I am working on blogging as you can tell, and I am working on becoming a better writer through a little book I picked up called "The Little Red Writing Book" by Brandon Royal.

Finally,  I started a Marriage, Family and Parenting Book Club with some friends and hope to be studying and reading books on these topics in order to pursue my purpose in strengthening families. Right Now I am reading "Christlike Parenting",  by Glenn Latham.

Physical Goals:

I am trying to get down to a healthy weight.  It is really hard for me to count calories,  but I am trying to wake up earlier so that I can work out for 1 hour and a half everyday.  I am also trying to cut out carbs,  mostly white flour and sugar from my diet.  Let's see if I can do this.

Skills:

As far as musical talents go,  I bought a book by "The Piano Guys"  for myself and am working on that book.  I absolutely love it.  I also need to practice hymns from the church,  because I am the relief society pianist and really need to practice. I need to try and play my violin more,  but haven't made that a priority.  I will try and practice a song to share with my ward for Christmas this year.

So,  there you have it My goals for the next 6 months.

Introducing Our Amazing Students 2015-2016

This will be a good chance for me to introduce these amazing people that make our home such a fun place to be.  

This is a good chance for me to introduce Ingredients 6, 7 and 8.  

6. Six Month Purge

7. The Six Month "No"

8.  The Six Month Inventory

These are some of my favorite ingredients.  I love planning and these ingredients are what make it all work for me.  The Demille's emphasize the importance of planning 6 months at a time.  

6 Month Purge:  

In order to effectively have a clean home and have a place of learning that it is important to have a purge about every 6 months.  If you have too much stuff,  you spend too much time cleaning and not enough time learning.  I think this is important.  We can probably get rid of at least 25-40% of all our stuff every 6 months.  This is an ongoing process for us,  but,  we are almost rid of a lot of our junk.  

6 Month No:

It is also important for us to not over-schedule our lives.  This is an important principle,  that I think is important.  We go over our list of activities and try to get rid of any activities that are unneccesary and taking too much time away from our family.  A good talk that illustrates this is "Good, Better, Best" by Dallin H. Oaks.

6 Month Inventory:

Every 6 months it is a good time to go over our resources and plan how we are going to inspire our kids.  Also,  we use this time to have a big interview with each of the kids and ask them what kinds of things they want to learn, and what they want to focus on during our school time.  I take each of the kids with me on a date one at a time and write down anything that they tell me they are interested in.  Then,  I go to work and try to find the resources they need in order to learn what they want to learn.  I also, try to go over, "What Your ____ Grader Should Know",  and see how I can inspire them in those areas.  Another thing I do is called "Blank Page Mentoring",  this is described by The Demille's in greater detail here: http://www.tjed.org/2014/06/weekly-mentor-oliver-demille/

This is where I find time to ponder and pray about each child, then I write down on a piece of paper everything that comes to mind and try to find ways to inspire them in those areas.  Usually,  things just fall into place,  and I can totally see how the Lord is providing me with the materials for each kid.  I can see how He is involved in each of their educations,  and in inspiring me to know what things they need.  It is amazing what things happen when The Lord is involved in my kids education.  I can see how he is molding them and me to become the people that he wants us to become.  

So here is what we are working on for the next 6 months in our family.

I'm also trying out Mathinspirations.com for some fun math for all of the kids.  

 Little Miss is working on being nice to her brother.  She has a feisty personality and loves to get attention.  We're working on being nice.  She loves putting the silverware away and pushing in chairs after dinner,  so those are her family jobs.  She is also working on playing lots and on reading lots of books with her Mommy.

 Mr. Sam-Bam is working on walking.  He recently mastered this art and is loving exploring the world on his two feet.  He loves to point at books and grunt.  We are working on tons of cuddles and enjoying our little baby boy.

 Miss Contrary,  her name fits her perfectly.  She is an amazing artist.  She also, has recently found a love for Math.  I have a workbook that she devours and does pages at a time.  She also is reading Molly Pitcher (Childhood of Famous Americans), Abigail Adams, Clara Barton and Amelia Earhart.
She also loves the "American Girl Series"  Right now she is reading "Meet Kaya" and "Meet Kit".  She has a little book club with a few friends and this month they will be reading "Meet Kit".  She also, loves playing the piano and violin and I am working with her to learn these instruments.  She has also decided to research a country in Europe for our family school and present her report to the family.  She is also, trying to finish reading "The Book of Mormon" by the end of the year.  She wants to work on her "Faith in God",  and she really wants to learn how to sew and cook better.  We're working on not adding too much salt to recipes.  For sports she is doing Tap and Jazz as well as Crossfit a class at our local gym for kids. We love this little girl.

 Georgie Porgie.  He is working on 6th grade Brainquest a workbook that he picked up from Costco.  He is also reading "The Life of Fred" on his grade level.  He decided to sign up for a class at an online Leadership Academy.  He is doing a "Chronicles of Narnia" class. He is excited about this and gets to be online at 8 am on Monday mornings.  He is also learning to play the saxophone and in our local school band.  He is working on playing the guitar.  He also loves making PVC things and is working on a PVC blog.  He already has a cooking blog at dcooksalot.blogspot.com.  He loves to read and is currently enjoying a series by

 He is also reading about Thomas Jefferson and A Wrinkle in Time.  He also says he'll do a report on a country in Europe for our family school and is excited to try some new recipes.  He is working on reading "The Book of Mormon" as well "by December",  he says. For physical he is working of Crossfit a class at the local gym as well as boxing and Archery a class at High Desert Archery Academy,  Pretty amazing...

Little Boy Blue.  Our amazing 6 year old who has excessive amounts of energy.  This year he begged me to work on reading with him.  We found an amazing curriculum at http://www.jennyphillips.com/home-school-curriculum/.  He also uses Explode the Code and many games that we play for math facts.  He loves to play with cars and legos and is working on his drawing skills.  He also wants to play basketball every day, does Jr. Crossfit and boxing.  He says he wants to do basketball, so we are considering this and hopefully signing him up for a basket-ball class.  He is working on being a Moms helper and training for when he is 8.  He is trying to memorize the Articles of Faith, and working on being obedient and helpful.  He is also working on playing and getting along with family and not whining.  

This is it.  I will tell what I am working on at a later time.  But,  this is the kiddos for now.

Ingredients 2-5 "The Phases of Learning"

The next few ingredients go  hand in hand,  so I'm going to try and describe them together as well as I can.  They are as follows:
2- Weeks
3.- Mornings
4.- Kidschool
5.- The Bean Counter Game

What the Demille's suggest to do, is to plan your life a week at a time.  They say it can get overwhelming when we plan too far in advance.  There are some things that we need to plan ahead,  but I think generally this is true.  Also,  we try to hold a weekly meeting with the kids to see what they are working on, and what else they need to work on.  This way we can fix things one week at a time.  It is a great tool.

The Demille's say that mornings are the ideal time to plant the seeds of learning in your kids, and so we try to use our mornings effectively.

Kidschool:  This is my favorite.  The Demille's call this Kidschool,  because when kids are about 12 years old,  they begin to transition into "The Scholar Phase".  So,  they no longer have to participate in "Kidschool",  because they have their own things that they need to work on for their own personal studies and mission.  I already see this in Dallin,  So,  I tell him he can read or work on his goals during kidschool,  but he's not in full Scholar Phase,  so he usually loves to participate in Kidschool or "Family School"  As we call it.  

This is where you share what is yours with your kids, through inspiration.  As they see what inspires you to learn and grow and you share it with them,  they want to do the same.  This is a great tool in learning together as a family.  I also use this time to give them ideas and suggestions on things that they can work on throughout the day for writing.  We are still working on this,  but my goal is to use kidschool each day to inspire them in writing and math as well as other topics that I am interested in sharing with them.

The Bean Counter Game,  is a great tool that we use.  We have a jar that we fill each time we do kidschool and kids are listening, and when the jar is filled, we have a fun family day.  Right now they want to go to Funquest,  a game place for kids.  It works great,  and helps the family work together towards a common Goal.

I'm going to share with you what I am using for Kidschool this year.  In our family,  we call in "Family School".  I will share with you in a later post how I plan this,  but,  The Demille's say to plan 6 months at a time,  because 1 year is too long. So, that is what I do.

We kind of take a Summer break,  and during this time we just read random books around the house and from the library.  During this time I take mental note,  of what I am interested in and what my kids are interested in and I try to find resources for our kidschool for the next 6 months.  Then I take a day or 2 and have Justin take the kids so that I can plan,  and I pray and brainstorm and figure out what it is I need to share with my kids over the next 6 months.  We don't always stick to a rigid plan,  but I feel that if I have a plan,  I feel more secure.

"If you fail to plan, You Plan to Fail"

So,  here goes my list of what I am going to share with my kids over the next 6 months (I have my plans divided into days,  because I like to organize my thoughts this way):

Mondays:

My Gospel Standards

Copywork:

Scripture of the Week

I have read and studied extensively about Charlotte Mason.  She was an amazing educator that a lot of homeschoolers use her approach.  I love her ideas, and so I try to use these ideas for "Family School".  One of her ideas was copywork.  Copywork,  you take a scripture or a poem and have the kids learn to copy it.  This teaches them grammar, spelling and handwriting.  It is a great tool.  We have a scripture of the week that goes with a gospel standard.  

I read an article in the Ensign and was inspired to study one gospel standard with my kids each week.  So, this is what we do on Mondays.

Tuesdays:

History/ Grammar Rule of The Day

I love "The Story of the World" by Susan Wise Bauer.  This is a book that you can just pick up and read and have great discussions about history.  This year my kids all seemed to be interested in the middle ages.  So, I am excited to learn more about them with the kids.  We follow a loose classical schedule as outlined in "The Family School"  from Latter-Day Learning. 

I also,  use a whole lot of books from the library.  However,  I also have some great resources on hand to dig deeper into the middle ages like:

For Grammar,  I have some fun ideas from Pinterest as well as we love doing madlibs as a family. 

Wednesdays:

Math/ Science Day

This Summer my kids got super interested in the human body.  I found some great resources to study the human body with them,  and we have really enjoyed them so far.  I really want a microscope,  so we'll see if we can get one.  So far,  we have this little one,  and it is fun.

For Math inspirations,  we use Life of Fred as well as a ton of Games off of pinterest.  They are awesome.

Thursdays:

Family History/ Geography/ Spanish Day

I saw these Family History Mysteries in "The Friend" magazine and thought,  we need to do these this year.  I am excited to do them with the kids this year.  I just printed them off from www.lds.org and put them in a binder,  I have the kids work on one every Thursday.  They are fun.

I thought since we are learning about the middle ages it would be fun to learn about Europe this year.  I just get books from the library about a country in Europe and we read the book and make a dish from the country and maybe watch a movie or documentary from that country.  So far,  we have done France and it has been fun.   Also,  I have the older kids each choose a country in Europe that they can research and report to the family about.  I think this should be pretty fun.

I have a Spanish Bingo game that I picked up from the Dollar Store.  During lunch on Thursdays we play this game to learn a little Spanish.  The kids have really liked it.

Fridays:

Fact Fridays/ Game Day/ Dictation and Art or Nature Day

http://www.math-drills.com/

Charlotte Mason taught that dictation is a great way to reinforce copywork.  So,  on Fridays I dictate the Scripture of the week to the kids and see how well they remember to spell it and grammatical features.  

We practice our math facts on Fridays with worksheets as well as games. 

Games are the best way to reinforce math facts and spelling,  better than any worksheet and a lot more fun.  

Charlotte Mason also taught that nature is the "best teacher".  We try to spend time on walks or bike rides or going into the mountains on Fridays.  This is all part of learning. 

So,  here you have it.  My plan for the next 6 months.  It doesn't always go smooth,  but I love having a plan.  

Literature:  

We read at night with the kids or any chance we get during the day.  These are the books I'm planning on reading to the kids over the next couple of months:

As you can tell I love "The Childhood of Famous American Series".  

Finally,  this is how I organize everything.  It works great.  

One Last Post...

This was one of my favorite trips this year.  We spent 1 week in Southern California and had the time of our lives.  In my next life I'm moving to San Diego.  I love the beach!!